Sweet treats for the paleo-minded

Jillian Lama intended to join her mother in work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh when an unforeseen hiring freeze left her unemployed in a new country with few options to earn money.

MATTHEW ADKINS - Daily News Staff

Jillian Lama intended to join her mother in work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh when an unforeseen hiring freeze left her unemployed in a new country with few options to earn money.

Lama spent the downtime baking. With encouragement from her father, she decided to turn her culinary efforts into a legitimate business venture.

“My dad said I should figure out how to turn baking into a business and I took the idea very seriously,” said Lama. “I invested in supplies, baking pans and ingredients and really just kind of ran with it.”

Lama said her experiences in Bangladesh were mentally challenging due to a high poverty rate, constant riots and traffic congestion. Despite this, she soon became involved with the Dhaka Women’s Club, baking cakes and other sweets for bazaars and charity fund raisers under her business, Oh Sweet Heavens.

“I really got out there and made my mark with a Barbie dress cake,” Lama said. “I was the first one to do anything like it before in the area. I kind of spurred an entire market for similar deserts.”

Two year later, Lama’s family left Bangladesh and returned to the States. Lama soon took a position with Helicase LLC, a human performance consulting firm, doing studies to see how the body reacts in high-stress environments. Lama and her husband, a staff sergeant in the Marine Corps, eventually relocated to Camp Lejeune where Lama continued to bake.

“I didn’t really feel like Oh Sweet Heavens could compete here on a regular bakery level, so I figured my niche would be to bake things with high protein and low carbs that could fit into a Paleo diet.”

Paleo diets were first popularized in 1975 by gastrenterologist Walter Voegtlin and focuses on building meals based around the presumed diet of Paleolithic era humans. Because of Lama’s experience working as a dietician and nutritionist for Helicase, she wanted to create desserts that were gluten free and stayed consistent with the Paleo diet.

Lama uses a combination of natural ingredients, such as Chia seeds, protein powder, pumpkin, coconut milk and peanut butter, to create baked treats that are not only healthy, but actually beneficial for the body.

Kendall York, 29, was searching for healthy foods in Jacksonville with little avail when she stumbled on Oh Sweet Heavens online. After ordering and eating a chocolate cupcake variety pack, York was immediately hooked.

“I am a health nut, but I also have a sweet tooth,” York said. “It was hard to find healthy food in Jacksonville that also tastes good. I’ve done a lot of nutritional research and the cupcakes at Oh Sweet Heavens are wonderful. I will keep buying them until she goes out of business.”

The majority of Oh Sweet Heavens orders are taken through the business’ website, oh-sweet-heavens.com, where in-depth nutritional information on each of the products can easily be found. Lama also teases new experiments and interacts with the public at facebook.com/ohsweetheavens2.0. Prices vary for each product, averaging around $16 for a dozen cupcakes, and may be found on the website under the shop tab.

To contact Jillian Lama directly, email ohsweetheavens@gmail.com. Customers may also connect with her on Twitter, Pintrest and LinkedIn.

Matthew Adkins is the business reporter for The Daily News and may be contacted at matthew.adkins@jdnews.com or 910-219-8467.